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Brandon Todd of Naples accused of keeping Florida woman as sex slave

A Florida woman used careful planning and a coded message to outwit an Ontario County man accused of kidnapping her, then keeping her as a sex slave in the home he said he shared with his grandparents, according to court documents.

Brandon Todd, 19, of Blacklock Hill Road in Naples, is charged in U.S. District Court in Rochester with interstate kidnapping. Court papers allege Todd captured a victim in San Diego in April, brought her to New York, then kept her in his bedroom at his grandparents' home until her mid-May escape in Bath.

"Under what I've been taught, ... she wasn't allowed at any time to leave my sight," Todd allegedly said to an FBI agent who asked about the imprisonment.

He is further accused of asking the FBI to help him find her after she got away, and of suing her in Steuben County Family Court over hospital bills related to her escape plan, in which she faked an asthma attack to get away from the home.

Steuben County District Attorney Brooks Baker said Todd has been charged with second-degree perjury, a class E felony, in the family court matter.

The details in this article come from the criminal complaint against Todd filed in U.S. District Court in Rochester.

Kidnapping

The victim said that on April 19 she took a bus from West Palm Beach, Fla. to San Diego, Calif. to see her mother, get a car and look for a job.

Todd got on the bus sometime before it reached San Diego, sat next to the woman and wouldn't leave her alone. When they got to San Diego, he suggested they get a hotel, and she agreed, hoping to call someone she knew to pick her up from the hotel.

On the way to the hotel, Todd told her he was in the Latin Kings gang and that she shouldn't try to escape, or she or her family would face retribution, according to the complaint.

After they got to the hotel, Todd took her to Walmart and bought a machete, a knife and some clothes for her to change into. They went back to the hotel, and he raped her with the machete next to the bed, according to the complaint. Todd also took her phone, broke it in three pieces and placed the pieces in different spots, saying he didn't want them to be tracked, she said.

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After two days in California, Todd put them on a bus bound for Rochester, telling her that he would have "50y dudes" show up and "shake" her mom if he didn't go with him.

In Rochester, they were picked up by a man she was told was Todd's grandfather. Todd referred to the victim by a different name in his grandfather's presence. The grandfather never spoke to her or looked at her in the eye, she said. She was terrified, according to what she told the FBI agent who investigated the case.

Imprisonment

Todd took her to his bedroom in his grandparents' house in Naples and kept her locked there for about two and a half weeks, except for a few trips away from the home, she told the FBI.

When she wanted to use the bathroom, Todd would follow her there, watch as she used the toilet, then marched her back to his bedroom, she said.

She was only allowed to sleep from midnight to 4 a.m. on Todd's floor. Todd beat her with his belt, stomped her foot with steel-toed boots and threatened to kill her or her mother. He also raped her several times a day, she said.

In Todd's bedroom, Todd used phones to make arrangements for drug deals and to receive money, she said. He also called the FBI agent who later arrested him, sometimes putting the calls on speakerphone so she could hear.

Todd told her he was working with "the feds" as a confidential informant, and that she was also working with the feds. He said if she spoke to anyone other than the FBI, she would be arrested and charged with a crime.

Calls to the FBI

FBI Special Agent Barry Couch said in late April or early May he received a phone call from Todd, who said he wanted to give the FBI information about a human sex trafficking ring.

Todd called back daily for about two weeks, telling Couch and two FBI task force officers that he was involved with the trafficking.

Todd said he recruited girls and women for the organization, according to the complaint. He said the reason he called the FBI was because he had recruited a woman and started to have personal feelings for her, and he didn't want her to be involved in the trafficking. He also said he wanted to help other victims get out of the ring

A large topic of conversation with the FBI was an unnamed missing person that Todd said he had information about.

The escape

One of the places that Todd took the victim was a public library in Naples, according to the complaint. Once, he took her to a drug deal there, and she realized she was in Naples, N.Y., according to the complaint. She used a pay phone and computers at the library to tell her boyfriend that she was in danger. She also told him the library's address.

She came up with an escape plan.

On May 12, she faked an asthma attack, hoping that Todd would take her to a hospital. He took her to Ira Davenport Hospital in Bath.

On the way to the hospital, she told Todd she was calling a friend to say she was OK. Instead, she called her boyfriend.

The victim "was cryptic in the call, but was able to tell (her boyfriend) that Todd was taking her to a hospital," according to the complaint.

Todd waited at the hospital while she was treated, according to the complaint.

At one point, someone at the hospital tried to discharge the victim. According to hospital records cited in the complaint, the victim begged, "please don't make me leave; he is dangerous and I have been trapped in his house for the last three weeks."

When state police came to speak to her, the hospital records said she was weeping, and that a "young man," who was waiting for her outside the room, had left.

At the hospital, the victim told state police she was working with the FBI. Because of what Todd told her earlier about how she might be arrested for speaking to anyone other than the FBI, she was too afraid to tell the state police about her ordeal, according to the complaint.

Someone from the hospital called her boyfriend, who picked her up. They drove back to Florida.

After the escape

In mid-May, Todd called the FBI and said he was hoping they would help him find the victim, who he thought might be in a hospital or shelter.

On June 18, Todd filed a suit against the victim in Steuben County family court about hospital bills that came to his home after the escape. In the suit, he claimed that she was his fiancee, according to the complaint.

On June 28, Todd called the FBI again, this time saying he wanted to provide information about drug activity and seeking immunity. The discussion moved to the woman he had asked the FBI to help locate. Todd said the woman was the victim, identified her by name, and said he gained her trust over drinks, and later he started falling in love with her, according to the complaint.

Couch asked Todd if he ever had to threaten somebody to stay with him and how the threats worked.

"You use force, use weapons, use knives, you know, give 'em a beating, you know, threaten their families to start," Todd allegedly said on a recorded call. "I've seen a couple of girls bleed before."

Couch spoke to the victim and filed a criminal complaint. Todd was arrested July 10 and appeared that day in U.S. District Court in Rochester. The U.S. Attorney's Office asked that Todd be held, based on his risk of flight and danger.

At a hearing on Monday morning in U.S. District Court in Rochester, Todd asked for a new lawyer to represent him, the court clerk's office said. Todd was sent back to jail. No date is set for his next appearance.

Todd is charged in Steuben County with second-degree perjury, a class E felony, in the family court suit against the victim.

"This is one of those rare cases where we actually have enough outside witness testimony to show the family offense petition is patently false," said Steuben County District Attorney Baker. "He is in federal custody, so the federal kidnapping charge still is the primary and by far the most significant offense he is facing."